Till Death Do Us Part
by BroadwayPianoLady
Summary: Maureen needs to cope with the death of Joanne, who does she turn to? MarkMaureen. Rating may change.
1. Till death Do Us Part

They were standing in a place they'd never thought they'd have to stand in again… a hospital. The only difference was, the person in the bed wasn't dying from AIDS.

There had been a wreck. An 18-wheeler overturning on the corner of 6th and 25th happened to land on Joanne's car.

Maureen had left her angrily that morning, stomping off and screaming about Joanne spending too much time with her work and completely neglecting her. Joanne went to work, but when she came home Maureen wasn't there. She knew where to find Maureen when she was upset. Of course, the local sports bar.

She sat parked in the car for over an hour watching Maureen through the window, debating whether or not to go in.

In the blink of an eye, a truck too big to fit in the city attempted to make the tight right turn onto 25th street failing miserably. Joanne's car was crushed, along with Joanne.

The doctors say she broke both her legs and her right arm. She had a collapsed lung and four of her ribs were broken. It is certain that she will be paralyzed for the rest of her life… if there is a rest of her life.

The entire sports bar filed out onto the street after the truck tipped. Maureen felt the blood rush out of her legs as she recognized Joanne's pancaked car underneath the truck. She dropped to her knees screaming, crying, apologizing, and now she found herself back in a hospital, this time, she was the one losing a loved one.

Maureen sat holding Joanne's hand as Roger and Mimi sat solemnly in a corner. Mark and Collins leaned against a nearby wall discussing the accident.

"I'm so sorry. I love you so much," Maureen kept repeating as she stroked Joanne's hair. "Please wake up pookie. I don't know what I'll do without you."

Just then one of the doctor's walked in. He motioned for Mark to follow him outside.

"Mr. Cohen, I figured you would have been the next closest to Ms. Jefferson. I didn't want to say anything to Ms. Johnson seeing as she's quite, well, distraught, but I need to inform you that, by the looks of the tests, it does not look like she's going to make it."

Mark remained silent. He assumed he was going to be the one to have to break it to Maureen.

"We've done all we can, now the only thing we can do is pray."

"Thank you doctor." He said quietly. The doctor put a hand on his shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. Mark watched him walk down the hall until he couldn't see him anymore. He turned around to go back in the room, stopping to wipe a tear from his eye. He put his hand on the doorknob and stopped. "I don't want to tell her!" he said to no one in particular. He needed to tell someone else first. He stuck his head in the room. "Collins?"

Collins turned around "yeah?"

"Can you come here for a sec?" Collins followed him back into the hallway. "So how's Maureen doing?"

"She's crying a lot. Man, I ain't never seen her like this."

Mark avoided Collins' eyes. "The doctor said he's almost positive Joanne won't make it."

Collins gave Mark the same silent treatment that he gave the doctor only minutes ago.

"I don't know what to do. Do I tell Maureen? Or do we just let nature tell her?"

Just then Roger opened the door. "Guys, Joanne's awake."

Mark looked at Collins and smiled. "We should call the doctor."

"Yeah we did," said Roger, "we pushed the buzzer thingy."

Mark smirked. Roger always had the best vocabulary.

The three of the shuffled back into the room to find Joanne awake, and somewhat smiling. Mark came up behind Maureen to say hi to Joanne. "Hey Joanne, how are you feeling?"

She just groaned. She wasn't able to talk properly. Maureen started crying again and placed her head lightly on Joanne's shoulder. "Please pookie, hold on for me. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Maureen lifted her head back up to see a single tear slide down Joanne's cheek. "No baby, don't cry," she said as she wiped the tear away "it's not your fault."

One of the monitors Joanne was hooked up to started beeping faster and faster. "NO!" screamed Maureen.

Just then the doctors rushed in from the call before. They gathered around Joanne's bed and examined. Maureen was still glued to Joanne's hand.

"Miss," said the same doctor who spoke to Mark earlier, "I need to ask you to please stand back."

Maureen made no attempt to move. Mark stepped forward and pried Maureen from Joanne. She was hysterical by now. Mark gently pulled her into a hug. "Shh, it's okay she's gonna be okay." He hated lying, but he needed to calm her down.

"We need to go the ER." The doctor said quickly as the nurses prepared to roll Joanne's bed out the door. "You folks can sit in the waiting room, we'll let you know when anything happens." He walked over to Maureen and Mark on his way out and put a gentle hand on Maureen's back. "We're doing the best we can."

"Thank you." Maureen whispered barely audible in combination with her sobbing.

Suddenly everything seemed so quiet. Roger, Mimi and Collins stood with their heads down as Maureen reverted to silent tears in Mark's arms. Mark looked at Maureen and tilted her head to meet his gaze. "Let's go sit in the waiting room. I'll get you some water okay?"

She nodded.

"Come on," he said motioning to the others.

By now it was almost ten thirty PM and the doctors still had not informed them of Joanne's conditions. Mimi and Roger had left an hour ago because Mimi felt weak, and neither of them had taken AZT all day. "Call us," Roger said before they left.

Collins was asleep sitting up on the floor against a wall, and Maureen was sleeping on Mark's shoulder.

Joanne's doctor walked out motioning to Mark. He got up gingerly so as not to wake Maureen. He didn't say anything to the doctor, he just walked up to him trembling slightly.

"We were able to stabilize her about an hour after we took her into the ER. We kept her there to keep watch on her. About another hour later, it happened again, but we couldn't do anything else this time. I'm sorry Mark."

Mark heard a sob come from behind him. Maureen and Collins were both awake and had heard every word.

Mark turned back to the doctor and shook his hand. "Thank you for everything doctor."

He smiled back a warm smile. "I'm sorry for your loss."

He turned back towards Maureen who was clinging to Collins like a lost child to their mother. He walked over and put a hand on Maureen's back, rubbing gently.

"Shhhh," Collins said to her, "I know it hurts baby. Believe me, I know." He rocked her back and forth once again resembling a mother and child.

"I can't believe she's- she's- gone…" said Maureen through a sob.

"I know… I know…" said Collins still rocking her.

"Come on," said Mark gently patting Maureen on the back, "let's get you home."

He and Collins helped Maureen up and out into the streets of New York where they waited for a taxi.

The ride home was silent as death. Maureen held onto Mark's hand as if she were afraid that he was going to leave somehow. She let her head droop into the crook of his neck. After about five minutes, she whispered to him in a frightened voice.

"Mark, I can't sleep alone tonight. Can I please stay at your place? I'll sleep on the couch."

He squeezed her shoulders. "Sure."

On their way up the stairs in his apartment building, he handed her his key and said, "You can go on up, I'm just going to tell Roger and Mimi what happened."

"Okay," she said weakly heading up the stairs.

About five seconds after he knocked, Roger opened the door in plaid pajama bottoms with his hair messier than usual. "What happened?"

Mark just shook his head.

"Ugh…" Roger said covering his eyes.

"I know…" said Mark. "Listen, Maureen's gonna stay with me tonight. She couldn't go back to Joanne's alone."

"Well I don't blame her… I've never seen her like that before. I mean she was hysterical. She's usually so strong you know."

"Yes," there was an awkward silence, but Mark decided to end their conversation, "well, I'd better get upstairs to Maureen, make sure she's okay, you know."

"Yeah."

"Goodnight."

"Night."

They shared an awkward hug, but, they both knew each of them needed it.

When Mark got back to his apartment, he found Maureen on sitting on the couch wrapped in a flannel blanked crying hysterically.

"Hey…" he said sitting next to her taking her in his arms, "take it easy, you're going to dehydrate!" He tried to crack a joke, but to no avail, she just kept on crying. "Okay, okay," he said, "shhh," he rocked her the same way Collins was earlier. He knew he wasn't going to get much sleep with her crying like this, but he also knew she needed him desperately. He stroked her long brown curls and dried her tears for what felt like hours, but she eventually cried herself to sleep. He stared at the ceiling as she laid her head on his shoulder with her breathing finally even, and he subconsciously held her tighter, almost as if he were afraid he'd lose her too.


	2. Only Time Will Tell

Mark hadn't seen Maureen since the night of Joanne's death. He woke up on the couch, tucked in the same blanket she was wearing the night before. He noticed his glasses placed neatly on the coffee table with a note next to them:

_Mark, thanks millions for letting me stay. It meant a lot to me. Don't worry about me, I'm fine, I just need to get away for a while._

That was the last he'd heard from her. Now, a week and many phone calls later, Mark wondered if he'd even see her at the funeral this afternoon.

He walked out of his apartment building into the cold New York air. It was November, coming close to Christmas, almost three years after Maureen's protest.

He closed his eyes remembering that night. It was so perfect. Everyone had everything they'd wanted. Everyone except him. He did sell his footage of the protest therefore getting his break, but his heart was still empty that night. Maureen had Joanne, Collins had Angel and Roger had Mimi. He felt like a 7th wheel. It was still a great night though. It was a great time of their lives for all of them.

He was pulled out of his thoughts suddenly by the feeling of a body slamming into his. He opened his eyes quickly, finding himself outside the church where the funeral was to be. He looked into the face of Maureen, whom he'd almost knocked over.

"Hey," he said sheepishly, "sorry…"

"It's okay," She said quickly and coldly. He looked into her face. There were dark circles underneath her eyes, and she looked quite pale. She was not wearing any make-up, nor did it look like she took any effort to take care of herself. His eyes went down her body, she most definitely looked thinner.

"Where have you been? I've tried to call you to see if you were all right, but I kept getting your answering machine."

Her eyes turned a cold dark brown, "It doesn't matter where I was. Why do you care? Don't try to pry into my life Mark, I don't need that too."

He was taken aback with her cold words. She'd changed. In one short week, the death of her girlfriend had morphed her into a completely different person. "I'm sorry," he said quickly, knowing that it was no use arguing with her while she was in this sort of state.

She gave him a cold look and spun around on her heel and swiftly walked into the church.

He stood there dumbfounded for a moment, but none-the-less, followed her into the church a half of a minute later.

He spotted Collins and walked over to sit with him. "Hey," he said casually.

"Hey man," said Collins giving him a quick hug. After a few moment of silence, Collins said, "so here we are again…"

"I know," said Mark, "I don't know how much more death I can take."

"Hey, how's Maureen doing?" said Collins spotting Maureen sitting alone up in the front.

"She looks like she hasn't eaten since last week. And aside from just a minute ago, I hadn't heard from her since the night Joanne died. But when I did talk to her before," he looked around and quieted his voice, "she was bitter…"

Collins bit his lip. "That's her personality," he said after a moment of thought, "she bottles things up. After the initial shock, she opened up to us, and she let us take care of her, but she don't like feeling vulnerable."

Mark nodded. "Yep, that sounds like Maureen… Do you think she'll get over it?"

Collins shrugged. "Death is a hard thing to overcome." He looked down into his lap. "I would have never accepted Angel's death if it weren't for you, Roger, Mimi, Joanne and Maureen. She has completely cut herself off. Don't let her do that, or she will lose the purpose of life." Collins smiled. "Besides, you still love herrrr…"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. I thought you stopped this last year. I'm not in love with Maureen anymore."

"Whatever man."

Just then the priest commenced the funeral.

The ceremony went by uneventfully. Afterwards, they all filed out onto the street to head towards the cemetery. Mark watched Maureen from behind. He had noticed she hadn't shed a single tear throughout the entire funeral. He looked over at Collins who gave him a 'go-now-or-you're-going-to-miss-your-chance' look. Mark took a deep breath and walked over to Maureen. He was about to tap her on her back when suddenly she lost her balance slightly and walked into a street sign. He was about to laugh, but thought better of it. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" she spat and pulled out of his grasp. She began walking briskly down the street towards the cemetery. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to look Collins in the eye.

"This is going to be harder than I thought bro'. We'll figure something out okay?"

"Yeah, sure…" Mark said distantly.

As the priest said his final blessing, the coffin was lowered into the ground. Maureen's face remained stoic and straight. She didn't say one word, or move one inch. She was like a statue.

One by one, everyone left the cemetery until it was just Mark and Maureen. She had not moved from the spot she had been standing in the whole time.

"What do you want?" she said so eerily, it almost made his hair stand on end.

"Nothing I just wanted to make sure you were all-"

"Well I'm fine. So you can go." She said, still not moving. "You know what, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm leaving." She finally moved and walked away from the grave towards the street. He watched her for a minute, when he saw her lose her balance again and grab onto a headstone for support. She stopped mid-step and doubled over.

He ran to her side. "Maureen, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." She snapped, and stood up quickly to walk away, but failed and fell to the ground.

"Maureen!" he knelt beside her. "When was the last time you ate anything?"

She covered her face, and he knew she was finally crying. "I don't know…" she whimpered.

He picked her up bridal style and continued walking towards the street. "Maureen, I'm taking you to the hospital."

"What!" she screamed, "why?"

"Because," he said "you just collapsed in front of my eyes. We need to make sure there's nothing wrong with you."

"I'm fine!" she repeated again. He put her on her feet and held her shoulders.

"LISTEN!" Mark never raised his voice, but he was angry now. "You are not fine! You just fell over in front of me, doubled over in pain, and you can't even remember the last time you ate! You can't stop living your life because Joanne died. She would not want that Maureen."

Maureen was silent.

"I'm taking you to the hospital," he repeated, "_and_, you are eating this bar thing…" he pulled out a squashed Nutri-Grain bar out of his pocket and handed it to her.

She looked at it and then at him. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Come on," he said slipping his arm around her middle to steady her as they walked, "I'm sure you're fine, but I want to be certain."

"Thank you," she muttered quietly as she opened the wrapper of the bar and nibbled on the end of it.

He knew the future lying ahead would be difficult, but he was willing to help her. He was more than willing. Was Collins right? Was Mark still in love with Maureen? Only time would tell.


	3. Goodnight Pookie

**_I'm not too impressed with this chapter, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that. I tried to explain any OOC-ness. Anyways, read on, and please do review!_**

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Mark and Maureen walked out of the hospital that afternoon after being told that Maureen was fine, aside from being depressed, and stressed over the death of Joanne, and also the fact that she hadn't eaten in almost a week.

"I'm taking you out for dinner," said Mark as they walked through the crowded city streets.

Maureen had not said a word since the cemetery, and she was still giving him the silent treatment.

"Okay," he thought it over for a moment, "I can't take you out for dinner, seeing as I don't have more than ten dollars on me, but we can grab a slice of pizza.

They ate their pizza in silence as Mark stared at Maureen. He finally spoke up, trying to get her to say something to him.

"Maureen, where were you last week?"

She looked up at him with her sad brown eyes sparkling in the dimly lit pizzeria. She put her pizza down and brushed the powder from the pizza off of her hands, then quickly swallowed. "I just needed to get away for a while."

"That's not what I asked," he said sternly but still managing to be gentile.

She gulped and hung her head down into her lap. Mark saw her body shake slightly as she took a deep breath which he knew was a sob.

"Look," she said through tears, "I took a train back to Long Island, to see my family…"

"Go on…" he said, his hand lightly grazing over hers.

"I didn't even-" her voice broke and tears began to stream down her cheeks.

"What Maureen? What is it? You can tell me!" He took both of her hands in his to console her.

"I didn't even get into my house," she finished.

He was confused. "What do you mean you didn't get into your house?"

"They didn't let me in," she squeaked, and then she completely dissolved into tears. "My - my mother said that as long as I'm a lesbian, I have no right to walk back into that house."

Mark was speechless. He just stared at her. He couldn't believe that a parent could be so cruel to their child, especially when that child was in need. He was pulled out of his thoughts as Maureen continued.

"And, of course I had nowhere to stay, since I couldn't go back to Joanne and my apartment, so I kind of wandered from hotel to hotel."

"Oh my God, why didn't you call me? You could have stayed with me!"

"I told you, I needed to get away," she said wiping at her eyes, "listen, Mark, can we go? People are starting to stare, and it's making me uncomfortable."

He found it hard to believe that people staring at her made her uncomfortable especially since she spent the last year and a half being a lesbian, but he none-the-less picked up his pizza and motioned for her take hers too as they walked out of the pizzeria.

They finished their pizza as they walked through the streets heading back to his apartment. "Do you want to stay with me tonight?" he asked as they neared his block.

"Would you mind?" she said in a voice almost unrecognizable as Maureen Johnson.

"Of course not," he said smiling as he took her hand leading her up the steps to his loft.

As he opened the door, Maureen looked around uncomfortably. He didn't know what was going on in her head, but he wouldn't pry anymore. He knew it upset her when he did and besides, it was rude.

"You know something," she said. It sounded almost like she was about to tell him her troubles without him badgering her first, "I hadn't cried at all since last week up until just before."

"I figured as much," he said putting a comforting hand on her arm, "you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to Maureen."

"I'm not sure if I want to," she said quietly, "but maybe I should."

He nodded in agreement. "You know what? I'll make some tea okay? And you could tell me everything you need to say then all right?"

She nodded looking down at her hands.

Mark went into the kitchen area and filled a teapot with some water and put it on the stove. He sat in a chair, thinking about life, and why it was so cruel. Why did all of his friends have HIV? Why did a truck overturn and, of all the cars in the city, have to crush Joanne's car? All of a sudden, he heard a loud whistling sound. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he jumped out of his seat and nearly knocked the chair over. He laughed at himself, turned off the stove and poured out two cups of the boiling water. He added the tea bags and the proper amount of milk and sugar. He remembered exactly how Maureen liked her tea. He brought out their teas and joined her on the couch as she thanked him for the tea and sipped quietly. After a few sips, she set her mug down on the coffee table.

"Mark, I'm really sorry for the way I snapped at you this morning. I was just in a really foul mood, so many different emotions have been piling up, and especially this whole thing with my parents now, and I'm also getting my period."

Mark raised an eyebrow. "Didn't need to know that last part."

"Right," she said quickly, "but seriously, I've been scaring myself lately Mark."

She caught his attention. He set his mug down next to hers and turned so their eyes met. He saw tears welling up in her chocolate eyes again, and he looked at her questioningly.

"For a few days," she whispered quietly, "I almost wanted to kill myself."

"Maureen…" he said awed, "please don't think like that. It doesn't make things better. You remember what it was like after April-"

"Yes, I know," she said, "and I think that's what stopped me." She thought for a moment. "You were also what stopped me."

"How's that?" he asked.

"Because, the way you held me that night when Joanne died, I think that even though I loved Joanne very much, I think I still love you too."

He looked at her, speechless.

"Well," he could tell she immediately regretted what she'd said, "that was part of the reason why I was shoving you away this morning, because I wanted that to go away, but the truth is, it didn't go away, even though I procrastinated my coming back here from Long Island, it didn't go away."

"Maureen," Mark said sweetly, "I don't know if these are true feelings, or if you really do love me, but I think we should wait to start any kind of relationship. I mean, obviously, I still love you. I always have loved you Maureen, but I don't want either of us to end up getting hurt. We still need time Mo."

"I know," she said, the tears spilling again. She gave a short quick sob and closed her eyes, "I just miss her so much."

Mark wrapped her in his arms as she cried the same way she had cried the other night. She clung to his body like a scared child, wrapping her arms around his neck.

The next few months went by rather smoothly. Maureen had in fact inherited quite a sum of money which Joanne left for her. She had also sold the apartment. She couldn't live there anymore, the pain was too much. Mark welcomed her with open arms as she moved in with him, as roommates. Even though Roger and Mimi teased him all the time about it, he denied that anything was going on between the two of them. Which, nothing was going on. So he had nothing to worry about. Right?

After the first month, Maureen had eventually been able to stop crying at the mention of the name Joanne. She was slowly moving on and allowing death to become a part of her life.

Mark was very proud of her. She had come a long way from the nights she'd spend in his arms bawling over Joanne. A few times he'd seen Maureen staring at him with a lustful, glance, but not at all like her former self, more like a need for dependency on him. Maureen had really changed.

One particular night, about five months after Joanne's death, Mark was cooking dinner for him and Maureen when she came up behind him startling him. "Jesus!"

"No, sorry you've mixed me up with someone else," she said with a smile.

"Very funny," he said slightly pissed off, "you almost made me feed dinner to the floor."

"Mark," she said suddenly extremely serious, "I need to talk to you."

He turned around quickly placing his hands on her arms expecting something to be wrong. She was after all, still fragile. "What Mo, what is it?"

"It's…" she started, but realized she wouldn't be able to finish, "It's nothing." She smiled at him. I don't have to say it now, it could wait.

"Are you sure?" he asked concerned.

"Well, if you don't want dinner to burn," she said, her eyes shifting to the stove.

"SHIT!" he screamed as he turned off the gas and picked up the pan off of the stove.

During dinner, Maureen brought up her need to talk to him again.

"Mark, listen," he looked at her concerned, and relieved, finally able to find out what's going on, "I know, I told you this many months ago, and you told me to wait it out, and I did. And, I have to say, that I still feel the same way. I've held this in for many months, and I still have this incredible desire to be with you again. I mean, I'm glad that we waited, it would have totally been disrespectful to Joanne, but I just think that, well, I mean-"

She was cut off by his mouth landing on top of hers. It was a quick kiss, but a good one at that.

"You're rambling Maureen," he smiled, "it's not like you."

"I've changed," she said matter-of-factly. And she was right. She had changed very much over the last five months, but Mark thought that maybe even it was a good change. She had at least learned to control lustful emotions. Five months of keeping that in had to be a lot for Maureen, although she didn't seem to have too much trouble containing herself, maybe it was a permanent lifestyle change.

"Maureen, I still love you. I have always loved you, even after you broke up with me. I may have tried to deny it at times, but Collins always kindly reminded me," he said with a sarcastic smile.

"Collins does that a lot doesn't he?" she said smiling. In a second, her lips were on his again. The table was in the way, so Mark put his hands on her waist urging her to get up as he did. He kept his hands on her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Slowly his hands traveled up and down her sides coming nearer and nearer to her breasts. He backed her into a wall and pressed her against it as he ran his hands up and down her abdomen. She slid her hands from his neck, to his chest, to his stomach, up to the lining of his pants. She slipped her hand inside to feel around causing him to groan from the back of his throat. By now, he had both of his hands in her shirt, exploring and investigating. He felt himself harden in Maureen's hands as he broke the kiss to throw his head back. He pushed Maureen into the wall again, accidentally shutting off the light. This happened to be a good thing.

He couldn't take it anymore. He longed to be one with Maureen again. He felt his way to the fly of her jeans and quickly unzipped. He was about to do his own, when he'd found that she'd already done it for him. He smirked at her.

"You were always one step ahead of the game weren't you?" She smiled and took his lips in a fast wet kiss. Even though they were still standing, he lifted her off of her feet as she wrapped her legs around his lower back and he entered into her. They both gasped, excited at this revival of a feeling they hadn't felt for over three years now. Maureen's back was leaning against the wall, as her hands remained on his back. He began to kiss her neck as she began to buck her hips causing them both to begin breathing heavier. "Oh Marky…" she breathed hotly into his ear as they both enjoyed the feeling of one another. As hot as her breath was, it made him shiver. He took her mouth with his again as they kept their rhythm going. He kissed her neck as she groaned into his ear, turning him on even more, if possible. She spread her hands over his head as ecstasy began to build. His kisses on her neck caused her to throw her head back against the wall and call his name out once again. He moved his hands to her breasts making her moan again. He knew she loved it when he did that. He plunged deeper into her hungry for more. In a matter of seconds, Maureen screamed an animal howl of pleasure sending Mark to join her over the edge.

"Unnghhh," he grunted as they finished. He held onto her tightly as they slid to the floor, lazily kissing and running their fingers through each other's hair. "I – have always – loved you," he panted into her ear. He was laying on top of her now, and she brought up a hand to touch the side of his face. He thought she looked more beautiful than ever with her hair all askew and her eyes slightly crossed from focusing on his face which was far too close.

"I will always love Joanne, but I love you so much, and I really have Joanne to thank for that, because she has changed me as a person, and I don't think I ever realized everything you have ever done for me. I never appreciated the little things that took so much out of you. Oh my God!" she had a sudden realization, and burst into tears, "I was a terrible person wasn't I?"

"No! Of course not!" He said quickly wiping her tears. "But you definitely have changed. Maybe you just matured, you know? Now you act more responsible."

She sniffled. "I guess." She held onto him tight. "I'm so glad I have you Mark. Everything you've done for me, I don't think I could thank you enough. And I finally realize that I owe you so many thank-you's and apologies-"

"Shh." He cut her off. She looked at him quizzically as he fixed his trousers and helped her up off the floor. "We don't have to talk about this now. Let's just enjoy the moments we have. Come on." He grabbed her hand and led her to his bed. They undressed quietly and slipped under the covers. He pressed his chest into her back as he brought his arms through hers to wrap around her torso.

"This just feels so right," she whispered.

"Good," he said kissing the back of her neck through her hair, "Goodnight love."

She giggled for a moment, "Goodnight pookie."

His eyes widened for a moment remembering the disaster behind that nickname, but he relaxed. Maureen was a changed woman. He held her tighter as they drifted off to sleep.


	4. A Message from beyond the Grave

_**A/N: This chapter is going to be in Maureen's POV. I kinda liked Mark's point of view, but Maureen's def my fav (wtf? Def my fav?...anyway….)so yeah, we're getting Maureen's POV.**_

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She was sitting on top of the hood of a car with Mark heatedly making out. She thought it was strange that Mark was being so public about their relationship, when usually he liked to keep the intimate stuff behind closed doors. She had no problem with it anyway. She broke the kiss for a moment.

"I love you pookie." He smiled at her widely.

"I love you too, Mo. Always and forever."

She smiled and went in to kiss him again when they heard a loud truck horn. She turned around to see a huge truck turning the corner. She grabbed Mark's hand as she saw that it was Joanne driving the truck.

"What the fuck?" she said out loud, ready to cry and dance at the same time. She smiled when suddenly the truck was falling, falling right on top of her and Mark sitting on top of the car.

The last thing she heard was Joanne's maniacal laughter before she sat upright in bed sweating, crying, panting, and nearly screaming.

"What! What! What!" Mark said jolting up still half asleep.

Maureen was still shaking uncontrollably when Mark completely pulled himself out of sleep.

"Hey, hey," he said softly taking her shaking body into his arms, "what happened? You have a bad dream?"

"Mhmmm," she managed to say.

"Yeah? You wanna tell me about it?"

She didn't want to talk about it, it was enough just to have to have the dream in the first place. She was so pissed. She was finally getting over this whole death thing? She hadn't had any nightmares, why are they starting now?

Her eyes opened wide.

Was it because she'd had sex with Mark last night? Was it a sign that Joanne was mad at her and didn't want her to be with Mark? By driving a truck on top of them maybe it was her way of getting back at her for all the shit she put her through.

She needed to talk about it.

"It was so ter-terrible," she managed to say. She told him about the whole dream and all her speculations about Joanne.

"You know what," Mark said soothingly fingering her long chocolate brown curls, "I think you're the one that's worried about it."

"Uhh….yeah…I am quite worried about this…"

"No," he laughed a little, "I mean you're the one that's worried about being loyal to Joanne. You're worried that by being with me, Joanne is going to feel rejected. Dreams come from your own head you know, not from beyond the grave."

"I….guess…" she said. She had calmed down a little. She was still a little hesitant to completely buy Mark's explanation.

"Maureen, I think maybe we should just take things a little slower. I mean, what we did last night was great, and it was fun, but I don't think it's good for you to move too fast. See? It's messing with your mind." He tapped on the back of her head.

She smiled at him. He had this charming way about him. That's what she first fell in love with about him, his suave way of talking sense in the most nonsensical things. He may seem to be dorky and a bit shy, but he had a smooth tongue.

As she was thinking about Mark's charms, suddenly the image if Joanne driving that truck flowed into her mind. She gasped and buried her head in the crook of Mark's neck.

"Hold me," she said desperately.

"Of course."

The next morning, she woke feeling a little tired, but slightly better than when she woke from the dream. She looked over at Mark who was sound asleep, his head resting on her breast. She ran her fingers through her hair, flattening it and watching as it sprang right back into place. A quick glance at the alarm clock told her it was nearing 8:00.

_Strange,_ she thought, _she never, EVER voluntarily woke up this early._

She slipped out from the covers quickly and quietly so as not to disturb Mark. He grumbled and turned over as she bit her lip trying not to make any more sounds. She crept out of the room and went into the kitchen to see if there was anything she could try and make for breakfast.

She opened the fridge to find a meager three items in it. A half eaten apple, probably from the looks of it, sitting in there since the ice age, a single egg, she thought for a moment, that was probably in there just as long… there was no trusting it, and a frozen snowball.

"What the _fuck_?" she laughed as she picked it up and held it up to examine it.

"Hey! Don't let it melt!"

She placed it back in the fridge. "Hey hon, you're up?"

"Mmmnope. It's just your imagination," he said sarcastically, however still with sleep in his voice.

"Very funny," she said walking over to kiss him, "Mark, may I ask why you have a snowball in your freezer?"

"You may."

She rolled her eyes. He was always like this in the morning. "Why do you have a snowball in your freezer?" She said that in the most retarded voice she was capable of.

He laughed. "It was actually Rogers from a few years ago. He went out on the balcony over there and made a snowball. He stood out there for an hour, freezing, debating whether or not to throw it at Mimi's window. As you can see, he didn't throw it, but he saved it for the day he would have the courage to throw it."

"Am I missing a step? Seeing as they now live together, a happy couple?"

"Oh, well according to Roger, Mimi came to him first."

Maureen raised an eyebrow. "Mimi? Come to a guy like Roger? They're already a strange pairing!"

"Roger said she knocked on our door one night when our power was out with some bullshit about a candle."

"Hmm, I would have never guessed."

"Yeah, well you learn something new every day don't you?"

"So true."

"What's for breakfast?" he asked clapping his hands together once, walking over to the fridge.

"A decaying apple and an egg that I'm sure has rabies."

"Salmonella" he corrected.

"Whatever."

"Okay, so let's go out then."

"We seriously need to do some grocery shopping."

"No we don't I like it that way!"

She sighed, but internally she was smiling. "Some thing never change do they Marky."

Walking back from the diner, they were all giggly.

"HAHAH! I can't believe you actually ate those eggs. That had to be the worst breakfast I'd ever tasted." Maureen was surprised; she hadn't seen eggs that looked like that since her hundred-year-old next door neighbor back on Long Island tried to make her breakfast once when her parents were out of town.

"They weren't so bad! How would you know anyway? You didn't even taste them!"

"I did so! I just spit it out afterwards." She giggled some more, nothing was really all that funny, but something just made them both want to keep laughing and laughing. "Anyway, I was much happier with my Cheerios."

"Ugh! How boring!"

"Eurgh, and that ham! I don't think I've ever seen ham that color!" Now they were both hysterical.

"I happen to like green eggs and ham, Sam I am!"

Maureen was doubled over laughing, grabbing onto a fire hydrant for support. She looked up at Mark who was red in the face from laughing so hard. She saw him frown for a moment as he scrunched up his face. "Hey, you okay?"

He smiled at her. "Why wouldn't I be? Sam I am?"

"Okay," she giggled like a child again, "hahahaha, that made no sense!"

"I know!"

They walked up the steps to their apartment building hand-in-hand, still giggling madly.

"I swear," she said, "I think someone put laughing gas in our coffee!"

"Maureen," he started, "you can't put a gas in a liquid, it would have to be in the air."

She pouted as she looked at him, "I'm so dumb. Why can't I be smart like you Marky?" He smiled at her, but she felt his hand grip hers tighter. He didn't answer her. "Marky?" She looked over at him. He looked awfully pale and faint. "Marky, what's wrong?"

Suddenly, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell face first down onto the steps. Maureen shrieked as a loud thud echoed through the stairways. Her thought immediately went to Joanne.

She did NOT want things to work out with her and Mark.


	5. Green Eggs and Ham

**_I'm moving fast, I know, I think I deservea hand. But maybe it's taking away from the quality of the story? Let me know! I actually am a little proud of this chapter, I feel like it was well written. Maybe the first part of the story seemed rushed, becuase this was one of the scenes that I particularly wanted to get to? Whatever, I'm rambling. Enjoy!  
Ya, so Rent? totally not mine...

* * *

_**

She knelt down next to him to flip him over and check his pulse and breathing. 

Everything felt okay. She shook her hands and bit her lip, not knowing what to do. In a second, sherealized they were right outside of Roger and Mimi's apartment. Not knowing what else to do,she ran up to the door and banged on it with all of her might.

"Roger! Mimi! Come here quick! Please!"

Mimi opened the door in a matter of seconds. "Maureen? What's wrong?"

"It's Mark, he just passed out right in front of me, and I can't wake him up!" She felt like she was going to cry again. Just as things were starting to go right, God-damnit! Maybe this was a sign from Joanne again, trying to get rid of Mark. She was crying hysterically as Roger came to the door wearing only boxer shorts and high socks. Had Mark not been laying on the floor, barely breathing, she would have made fun of Roger for his attire.

Mimi wrapped Maureen in her arms as she allowed her to cry into her shoulder.

When Maureen looked up, she saw Roger kneeling over Mark. He raised a hand and slapped him hard across the face.

Maureen's hands went to her mouth, she was not sure how to take that. She was relieved however when Mark opened his eyes and smacked Roger back. "That fuckin' hurt!"

"I had to do it man…"

Maureen went over to Mark. "Honey? What happened?"

"I think you would know better than I Maureen…" Mark said slightly dazed, "ugh, I am going to be sick."

Maureen's eyes widened. "That fucking ham and eggs! I told you not to eat it!"

"Oh shit," Mark groaned, doubled over trying to get up as Maureensteadied him.

"Hah," Roger chuckled, "that's food poisoning man. Not too serious thoughsince it happened so quickly., but man are you going to have fun today! WOOT WOOT!"

"Are you sure it's not serious?" Maureen asked nervously.

"Yeah, definitely. If it happens a day and a half later, that's when you need to worry. All you have to worry about is throwing up, diarrhea, fever, exhaustion, pain-"

"Shut the fuck up Roger, and go put some clothes on," Mark growled as he tried to get up with the help of Maureen.

Roger mimicked him and walked back into his loft, mumbling something in a falsetto that sounded like, "thank you for saving my life Roger! Oh, you're welcome Mark!"

Mimi walked over and steadied Mark from the opposite side Maureen was on. "Guys, if you need anything, please, don't hesitate to call us. We'll be here all day."

"Thanks Mimi."

Maureen and Mark headed up the second flight of stairs towards their apartment when Maureen felt Mark's weight heavier upon her shoulder than before.

"Mo?"

"What is it?" she said nervously.

"Let me go, I can't stand up anymore."

"Okay," she said biting back tears, and helping ease him to the ground.

He leaned his back against their door as she moved closer to him.

"Oh, Marky," she said feeling his forehead, "you're burning up."

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply as beads of sweat began to form on his forehead and cheeks.

She wiped at his forehead with a napkin in her pocket from the diner. "Come on pookie," she kissed his forehead, "can't you just make it fifteen more feet from here to the couch?"

He kept his eyes closed. "I'll try."

She stood up and pulled her key from her pocket with a shaking hand and unlocked the door. She slid open the door, and he nearly fell into the apartment seeing as he was using the door as a backrest.

She slid her arm through his to help him up. He held onto her tightly as she led him quickly to the couch, on which he plopped down. She stroked his cheek anddoubled backto the door to close it. Mark groaned from the couch, clutching his stomach and doubling over. Maureen could see the sweat pouring off of him from across the room.

She ran to the sink and soaked a towel in cold water. As she sat on the edge of the couch, she helped him slip out of his jacket and shirt, then forced him to lay back. She ran the wet rag over his face, neck and chest.

"Mmm, that feels good," he said weakly.

"Oh, pookie, I feel so terrible for you."

He grabbed her wrist, eyes still closed and gently stroked her palm with his thumb. "As long as you're here, it's not as bad." He groaned and sat up like a pregnant woman having a contraction. "Ugh… It's pretty bad though…"

* * *

Maureen woke up a few hours later, on the couch. She looked over to where Mark would have been resting next to her, but he was not there. 

"Mark?" she called getting up to look for him, "where are you?"

Bedroom? Empty. Kitchen? Empty. She walked into the bathroom to greet a sight of Mark laying on the floor on his side. Suddenly memories of April came back to her and she began to panic.

"Mark!" she said louder and with more urgency.

"Mmm?" he answered, barely moving.

"Mark what the hell are you-" boy, she really was dumb wasn't she? She continued, "Marky were you sick?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to have to keep coming back and forth, so I just decided to crash here. Plus, I really couldn't get up."

"Mark! You could have called for me! I would have at least brought you a pillow or a blanket!"

He smiled genuinely, "yeah, but I didn't want to wake you."

"Now you're being the dumb one Mark, I'm supposed to be taking care of you, you're sick!"

"Yeah, but you look so beautiful when you sleep."

She melted. How did he always manage to do this? Even now he's sick as a dog and still being a gentleman. "Thank you," was all she could say. How fucking retarded! Still kneeling next to him with her hand on his hip, she kissed his forehead to feel for his temperature. "Your fever is a little better than it was. I'm going to get you some water. I know it's going to be hard to keep it down, but you need to keep drinking water."

"Yeah, I-" but suddenly his face grew pale, "Ungh, need – toilet – now!" He pulled himself up to the toilet and became violently sick in it.

_Ugh, _she thought, _disgusting. _But she supposed it's more disgusting when you're the one throwing up.

"Okay, honey," she rubbed his back gently with her right hand whileholding onto his left arm with the other, "take it easy." When he finished, he collapsed against her. She took some toilet paper and wiped his mouth. She felt like a mother taking care of her child, but everyone was a child again when they were sick. She discarded the piece of toilet paper and flushed the toilet turning her attention to Mark. "Wait right here pookie, I'm going to get you some water." She moved to leave when he protested.

"Maureen?"

"Yes baby?"

"Hurry back," he said with urgency, again, like a child who was afraid of being away from its mother for too long. She felt like she was going to cry, awed with his dependency on her, but quickly slipped from the room to get a glass.

When she returned Mark was throwing up again.

"Oh Mark," she said sadly kneeling down behind him, "why did you eat that?" She asked the question more to herself, she knew it looked disgusting, why did she let him eat that revolting breakfast? He wiped his mouth and turned around to face her. He just looked at her with red eyes and dropped his head down as far as his chest would allow. She took his trembling body and wrapped him in her arms letting him rest his head on her chest, softly playing with his hair.

"Sing to me Maureen?"

"What?" she picked her head up off of his and looked at him like he was crazy, "why?"

"Because you have a beautiful voice."

"Well, thank you, but what would you like me to sing?"

"I don't know… anything you want."

"Well then, how about this?" She began to sing the words from her protest two years ago. He chuckled a little when he recognized the familiar melody. She sang it sweetly, completely opposite from when she performed it for the alphabet city two years ago.

Within a matter of minutes he completely conked out. "Poor thing…" she said slipping a small pillow underneath his head and moving gently so she wouldn't wake him.

She walked out of the bathroom into the kitchen. Quickly glancing at the clock, she gasped, "Jesus Christ! It's four o'clock already!" She looked around for something to do. "Well, I guess time flies when you're having… uh… never mind. Who the fuck am I talking to?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I'm turning into my mother…"

_My mother…_ she thought. She remembered that she hadn't talked to her since she went there after Joanne died.

"Ugh! I can't think about this now!" She slammed her fist down on the kitchen counter as she erased her mother from her thoughts. She was more concerned about Mark right now. What if this food poisoning wasn't just a 24 hour thing? What if it caused some kind of internal damage? She couldn't continue to sit there and do nothing but rub his back and sing to him.

She thought about who to call. Someone obviously who'd been around quite a bit, maybe Collins? Yeah, but he was probably busy. Mimi and Roger? Eh, they were probably downstairs licking whipped cream off each other. Benny? Hmm…how about no. She picked up the phone and dialed the only person who she could really count on.

"Hello? Mom?"


End file.
